I thought today would be a good day to post little something about a band that I’ve been working with off and on. Not only did the Long Beach based band, I/O, release their first video, they also announced today that they are changing their name to Así Fui.

Over the last year or so, my closest friend Jacob, starting playing keys in the band and brought me on to shoot for them. I’ve shot a handful of live shows and we’re in the process of doing a bunch of smaller, but more frequent, portrait shoots. What excites me most about working with a band like this, is that I get to document their journey and evolution, creating a visual history for the band.

Because I am friends with them and have been brought into their inner circle, I feel a certain obligation or responsibility to portray them as real and honest as they are in that moment. Yeah, I know that's the job of a photographer when you get hired on to do a gig, but more often than not, you are meeting the band for the first time and have to work within severe time constraints. Most of the time, you are working with whatever it is the artist wants to give you, basically perpetuating whatever image they have already established. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different. The challenge then becomes finding those little moments when their guard is down and they gave you a peek of who they really are. These are the shoots that I most commonly find myself in, and I love them, but being able to spend an extended period of time with a band is where I find it most rewarding.